ECU cornerback Shavon Revel Jr., a top prospect for the 2025 NFL Draft, tore his ACL in practice this week and will miss the rest of the season, multiple people briefed on the situation confirmed Friday.
Revel, who is No. 12 on The Athletic’s Dane Brugler’s Big Board, was second-team all-conference for ECU last season and had two interceptions through three games in 2024, returning one for a touchdown. ESPN first reported Revel’s injury.
The Winston-Salem, N.C., native began his college career at Louisburg College in the junior college rank from 2020 to 2021. While working at an Amazon warehouse after the 2020 season, he drove overnight to an East Carolina prospect camp and blew the ECU coaches away with his size (6-foot-3) and speed. The coaches told him to get his grades up and they would have a spot for him. Revel trusted the ECU coaches so much that he didn’t go to an NC State prospect camp he’d planned to attend.
“I had a 2.2 (GPA), many schools wouldn’t pick me up,” Revel told The Athletic at AAC media days in July. “After the camp, Coach Houston pulled me aside and said he’d give me an opportunity, they believed in me and wanted me to get my GPA up. I took that in and got my grades right.”
Revel signed with ECU ahead of the 2022 season. His success in 2023 caught the eyes of many other schools, but he turned down NIL offers of at least six figures from other programs to stick with ECU.
“I love the game of football. Three years ago, there wasn’t no NIL,” Revel said. “I stuck to my word. I love the atmosphere at ECU and my teammates.”
Revel’s injury is a big hit to a 2-1 ECU team that has improved this season and is playing much better defensively, allowing just 12.7 points per game. The Pirates travel to Liberty on Saturday.
What the injury means for Revel’s draft outlook
It can get monotonous studying as many college prospects as I do throughout the summer months because most aren’t quite NFL-quality. But it is all worth it when you come across a talent like Revel, who jumps off the screen with his size, athletic ability and nose for the football. He turned down lucrative NIL opportunities this offseason to return to East Carolina this fall and was a player known for doing things the right away.
And that makes his ACL injury that much more unfortunate. Before the injury, Revel was my No. 3 cornerback (behind Will Johnson and Travis Hunter) and one of the top-12 prospects overall in the class. His skill set perfectly fits what a lot of teams covet at the position — he bullies receivers to the sideline, tracks the ball beautifully to create interceptions and his size/speed mix is elite.
This injury is a setback for him, no doubt. But he will still be drafted (probably on day two if there are no setbacks in his rehab) and have a chance to get on the field as a rookie. — Dane Brugler, NFL Draft staff writer
(Photo: Jim Dedmon / Imagn Images)
